Daily Archives: March 17, 2011

The King’s Speech Aids Japanese Relief

Alliance Films, Cineplex Entertainment, Empire Theatres and AMC Theatres have joined together to raise funds in support of the recent devastation in Japan. All proceeds from select first evening presentations of the Academy Award winning film The King’s Speech will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross’ Japan Earthquake Asia Pacific Tsunami Appeal.

100% of the proceeds of the following first evening presentations on Saturday March 19th will be donated:

Your Call: UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones

The Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey sets the stage this Saturday March 19th with UFC 128. Jon “Bones” Jones will be looking to take advantage of his good fortune and friend Rashad Evans misfortune by grabbing the UFC light-heavyweight championship from Brazilian “Shogun” Mauricio Rua.

Video: Dwyane Wade’s Cabbage Patch dance dunk

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat gets so excited about this monstrous dunk over Kendrick Perkins of the Oklahoma City Thunder he flashbacks to the ’80s and retrieves the Cabbage Patch dance out of the archives. On this visual evidence, the surreal nature of it all is somehow a completely normal response. Still, the Thunder still ended up making the most noise, having the last laugh or dance shall we say, beating the Heat 96-85.

Unrelated Links: Rebecca Black, SXSW, MSTRKRFT

SXSW, the music industry’s most buzzed about festival for new music is underway in Austin Texas and concert footage ranging from a surprise Jack Black gig to the ’emotronica’ of rising British artist James Blake is available at NPR’s SXSW site.

Also, don’t forget to check in with the Ottawa Citizen’s Lynn Saxberg as she tweets live from Austin as the music festival continues.

Speaking of new music, Toronto electronic duo MSTRKRFT are back. Download or listen their new single “Beards” from their website.

If you’ve been able to have escaped Rebecca Black’s “Friday” single recently, many may consider you a lucky person. Black’s teen pop single is getting attention for all the wrong reasons (ie: for not being very good) and has become a viral video sensation as a result. Chris Parry of the Vancouver Sun applies his opinion to the phenomenon replete with all the inevitable parody versions of the song.

The Instant Review: Paul

Who: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost — the men behind Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz — are Graeme and Clive, two comic-book nerds who meet a real live alien (voiced by Seth Rogen) and try to save him from evil government agent Jason Bateman. Kristen Wiig co-stars as a Bible-reading woman they meet along the way.d

What: A twist on sci-fi classics that presents the alien (named Paul) as a version of the dope-smoking, foul-mouthed young men you usually meet in buddy comedies. He looks like ET and talks like Rogen, and his computer-animated big eyes and thin body are used to comic effect. Each character is given one quirk to play — nerdy sci-fi fans, kick-ass alien, intense G-man, spaced-out Christian fundamentalist — but there are enough of them to be shuffled entertainingly by director Greg Mottola (Superbad).

A Dogg’s Life

The tributes to Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre collaborator Nate Dogg who passed away earlier this week at the age of 41 from stroke complications, have been many, remembering the go-to hook singer as a pioneer of the West Coast G-Funk sound.

He also collaborated with a wide variety of artists outside that circle such as Ludacris and Mos Def.